Jun Naito (Mega Man): Probably Elecman because you get multiple hits out of one zap.Jeanie Tse (Roll): Roll all the way! How can someone so cheerful kick so much butt and look cute doing it?Edward Young (Dr. Light): When I auditioned in January of 2008, I was utterly unfamiliar with “Mega Man” or any of the ancillary characters. By choice, until our project was finished, I avoided seeing anything associated with the game or based on it, because I didn’t want the exposure to interfere with me developing Dr. Light as a character of my own interpretation and creation. Dr. Light has grown to become one of my favorite characters of all the projects I’ve done. I can only hope I’ve captured the expectations of the many Mega Man fans out there.

Q: How comfortable were you when you had to act with the costumes on?

JN: Let’s just say I was much more comfortable in Rock’s clothes.Alan Fung (Elecman): It’s fun. I’ve always loved becoming someone else. That’s one the of best parts. Other than that, you just have to get used to actually having something like that costume on and use it to help you bring the character to life.Wayne Chang (Iceman): The summer shoot was very tough, because not only the costumes have poor air ventilation; the jump suit also smelled like dead fish. Otherwise, I personally didn’t have any restrictions on movements. Acting wise, wither or not I’m armored or naked, it didn’t affect how I move forward with the scene.

Q: Did you play much Mega Man games when you were a little kid?
JN: I played the first 3 Mega Man games on the NES, but my favorite is the first one.JT: I didn’t, but my brother Jesh loved Megaman. Jesh is the other main reason why I took this role. He’s very good at video games, but, for the record, I used to school him at Super Mario Bros.EY: I’m 50-years-old! There were no Megaman games when I was a little kid.Dave Maulbeck (Dr. Wily): No, but in collage I had my original NES and my roommate had Megaman, and yada yada yada, it completed me. But I have only ever played the original.AF: I didn’t play much Mega Man to be honest, but I def. knew bout it,.. I think I saw the cartoon more than played the game. I kinda wish I did.. looks really fun, now looking back at what I missed.

For the complete Q&A session, head on over to the film's official blog

1Up's Jeremy Perish has given an in-depth review of Chip Tuned Rockman, the soon to be released soundtrack from IntiCreates. Overall, Jeremy loved the disc, but cautions readers that it might not be for everyone. A portion of the review below:

"The CD includes 20 tracks arranged as a sort of backward journey through the Mega Man series, beginning with some tracks from Mega Man 9 and working down to Fireman and Cutman's classic themes from the original NES game. This is clearly a labor of love and affection, as the remixers touch on the breadth of the series, including the relatively obscure Mega Man V for Game Boy, and even dish up a remix of the Megawater_S theme from The Wily Wars. I'm a huge Mega Man nerd, and I've never actually played the Wily Wars, since it's a rare and expensive import-only release; I only know it by reputation. These guys clearly did their homework. "

" If there's a downside to Chiptuned Rockman, it's that the whole thing is maybe just a little bit too clever, too meta. People who want game music arranged to sound less electronic won't like it, and people who want the straight-up original compositions will be disappointed by the embellishments."

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Just in time for those cool/breezy autumn days, a rather adorable handmade Servbot cap is up for grabs at Etsy. Not only will the cap keep your head nice and toasty, it might just catch the attention of "attractive women with engineering degrees and piratical tendencies."(Hehehe. Get it?)

"Kobun-kun! It’s the lovable Servbot from the Megaman Legends series. Please be prepared to be bossed around by attractive women with engineering degrees and piratical tendencies if you wear this hat in public. Please note that this warning does not in any way imply or guarantee that you will attract the attention of such women. You may simply be asked why you’re wearing an odd looking LEGO man for a hat.

The hat entire is crocheted from 100% no-dye acrylic yarn. The hat measures 23 inches (58.42 centimeters) around, but can fit up to 25 inches (63.5 centimeters).The hat also measures 8.75 inches (22.22 centimeters) from the top of the head to the bottom edge with the top bolt being around 2 inches (5.08 centimeters) high. The top bolt is stuffed with poly-fil and sewn securely to the top of the base hat. "

When I started out, I never thought I'd reach such a milestone, let alone become a viable source for Mega Man/Rockman news. Of course, all of that is thanks to you; this place, my corner of the internet, would be nothing without you guys.

Capcom Japan has uploaded a handful of photos from last week's Tokyo Game Show, including some pictures of Operate Shooting Star related events and booths.

As you can see, OSS had a very small presence at TGS, limited to a single booth at the "Kid's Corner".
The photo on the right indicates that there was a 15 minute wait to play the demo. [More OSS booth photos, here]

Above, the Operate Shooting Star special stage event. "Mr. Famous" was joined by his faithful assistant to demo a versus match between Rockman.EXE and Shooting Star Rockman. Shortly afterwards, members of the press were invited to play the "Rockman Colosseum" multiplayer mode.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Bam Kapow! saw fit to rank the ten most memorable NES intros of yesteryear. Bursting onto the list at number two is none other than the epicness that is the Mega Man 2 intro:

"All the Mega Man games had fantastic intros. I selected this one above all the others because the set up just gets you really pumped. The fantastic music starts of slow as you get a little background text. Then with the music picking up as you slowly climb the building. Then…..Mega Man! Hair blowing in the wind, and the real music kicks in. It just really gets you psyched up."

I couldn't agree more. There's something magnificent about that intro that makes it a timeless classic!

A mere three months after the last discount, Amazon.co.uk has gone ahead and dropped the price of the Mega Man Star Force anime DVD set again, marked down to the low low price of £6.48 (originally sold for £19.99). Not a bad deal at all, especially if you were a fan of the dubbed episodes. Keep in mind, you'll need a region free DVD player if you don't live in the UK!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Fans of the Rockman DASH series will recall that main character Rock Volnutt was actually an honorary servant of The System of Elysium, bearing the title of "Rockman Trigger". In DASH 2, it was revealed that there were other beings like Trigger, so called "Rockmen" who served the System with varying roles and occupations. Unfortunately, we never got a good look at these Rockmen characters, but with the arrival of the newly released "Capcom Special Collection Rockman DASH 2" art book, we now have ourselves something to ogle at.

Depicted above, a whole slew of different Rockmen: battle units, female units, semi-humanoid units, and a mysterious Rockman who would have been an enemy to Rock Volnutt.

Truly, quite amazing to see these unused concepts after all these years. I can't help but hope that these designs will be put to good use in the future. It'd be a pity to see such awesome designs go to waste.

TGS is winding down, and it looks like the final bits of OSS info are leaking out. Two Japanese blogs, Dark Messiah and Daily Rockman, summarize their accounts of a second playthrough of the OSS demo version:

- There are black bars on the left and right side of the top screen during battles. Said to be distracting at times.
- War Rock chip hits 3x2 panels ahead
- Yai, Dex, Mayl have new mugshots
- OSS will include the SubChip system, a staple of the series since EXE 2.
- HP no longer automatically restores after battles (thank goodness for SubChips!)
- You can hold up to two chip folders (as opposed to the original three)
- Minor tweaks to chip folder building rules; can only hold up to five of the same chip (ten in the original game)
- Mr. Famous will make an appearance in some form

About the black bars, it sounds as if it's the same deal as BN5DS, where battles weren't stretched to display properly on the top screen. Not too big of a deal, but I can understand why some would find it rather annoying.

UPDATE: Moar details from DM:

- Club Strong appears as an item in the Rockman Colosseum mini-game, attacks with his oversized club.
- There might be some form of DLC such as downloadable battle chips and events.

Originally released in 2004, 'Rockman's Space Rescue' was apparently released onto the Black Berry platform in late '07, re-branded as "Mega Man Space Rescue." Yeah, this one totally slipped underneath my radar; had no idea it made it to our shores. Anyway...

Players guide a jet pack-bound Mega Man through a series of twists and turns, avoiding black holes and asteroids. The goal of each stage is to rescue a specific amount of lost astronauts (hence the title, "Space Rescue") before Mega runs out of jet pack fuel. Once you've rescued the the astronauts, you're required to locate the "goal point", which teleports you to the next stage.

It's a simple little game; hit or miss. Recommended if you're looking to give you BB some Mega Man love. You can grab a trial version of the game for free at BlackBerry Today.

Dark Messiah got his hands on the trial version of Operate Shooting Star yesterday, and saw fit to describe his playthrough on his blog: (Translation provided by The Mega Man Network)

-The opening animation sequence to OSS is similar to BN5DS, combining still images.
-Recovery causes the screen to darken, pausing the battle (as it did originally)
-Long Sword does 100 damage (it only did 80 in the original BN)
-When playing as Star Force MegaMan, you press X to lock on, and hold B for rapid fire. The buster likely will auto-charge.
-Star Force MegaMan’s shield cannot be used repeatedly.

SF Mega Man using 'lock-on'

-Aside from the title music, none of the game’s music is arranged so far (but there’s no reason to suspect it won’t be)
-When operating Star Force MegaMan, the music changes to his theme song
-For attacks that pause the game (such as Navi chips), damage is calculated as the attacks progress, as opposed to being calculated after the screen undarkens

-The degree of difficulty for minigames during scenarios has been adjusted

Frantic fighting in the Star Colosseum

-Details on the MegaMan Star Colosseum: Players are divided into two teams and compete for stars. You select your player and desired rock-paper-scissors attribute. For opponents whose rock-paper-scissors icon is weak to yours, you can attack them with A to steal their stars. You can also touch your allies to give them stars. There are items on the field to change your rock-paper-scissors attribute, as well as other items such as bombs, pitfalls, and speed-up ability. These are activated with B. You can lose items by being attacked. The map also has gimmicks such as vanishing platforms. At the end of the game, it announces which team is victorious by catching the most stars, and then shows individual stats.

Friday, September 25, 2009

The following tidbit comes from Inside Game's Operate Shooting Star special stage report where OSS producer, Takeshi Horinouchi, expressed an interest in continuing the EXE series:

“Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star will go on sale November 12th. Though the series wrapped up three years ago, thanks to the players Rockman EXE is able to sell once again. Furthermore, as we approach Rockman’s 25th anniversary, I’m thinking of what I want to do with Rockman EXE.”

I wonder what he has in mind...more ports/remakes? Maybe even a full blown sequel?

At the Tokyo Game Show today, Capcom held a special stage event where some Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star information was presented. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything really new, just a reiteration of we've known for a little while now. Summary below:

Producer, Takeshi Horinouchi took the stage to discuss a couple of the new elements added to the DS "remake" such as the inclusion of a bottom screen map (added to make navigating the internet easier), minor battle system tweaks and the addition of voice acting snippets courtesy of the Rockman EXE anime VAs. Horinouchi was particularly devoted to getting the actors from the show to reprise their roles for OSS.

Players have the option to play as either Rockman EXE or Shooting Star Rockman after a certain point in the game. SSRockman can lock onto foes from a far and will have his own unique set of "Shooting Star" battle cards. Still unclear how cards/battle chips differ from each other. There's also details about a new program advance by the name of "Double Rockman", which summons both Rockmen onto the battle field to unleash a massive simultaneous attack.

Moving on, details for "Rockman Star Colosseum" were presented. If you've played around with the Sky High Coliseum in Star Force 2, you know what to expect here. Six players attempt to grab as many stars as they can in the allotted time. Players are able to use items and utilize a sort of "rock-paper-scissors" system to steal opponents' stars. Rockman EXE, Shooting Star Rockman and Blues are playable characters. Only a single cartridge is required to play.

Well, that's all for now. Expect more OSS updates tomorrow with the arrival of another stage event.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Here's an interesting tidbit to tide us over until more TGS news comes our way. According to a pamphlet given out to Tokyo Game Show attendees, Rockman EXE Operate Shooting Star is nearing the end of its development cycle, listed at 90% complete.

Given that the release date is a few months away, this shouldn't be all too surprising. Still, I can't help but wonder what will make up that last 10%. Naturally, there's probably some technical stuff remaining (testing, debugging), but you never know if Capcom has a few last minute extra features in mind.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Straight from the Tokyo Game Show showroom floor, the debut trailer for Operate Shooting Star:

Points of interest:

- Remixed version of theme song
- Game will feature voice acting snippets. Voice work can be heard during the "Jack-in" sequence and in-battle.
- Footage of "Rockman Coliseum", a six player mini-game, at 1:52.
- SSRockman and Rockman EXE can be seen attacking Clock Man simultaneously. Probably a Program Advance...

Walmart's online store has a pretty sweet promotion going on. For $197 USD, you can purchase a Nintendo DSi (you pick the color) and your choice of three games and one accessory. Among the games listed are both versions of Mega Man Star Force 2 (xSaurian/xNinja). Of course, if SF2 isn't to your liking, there's lots of other games to choose from.

This deal is for a limited time only, and only available on Walmart.com. Visit the bundle's product page here for more details.

The sculptor really went all out with the precision of each design, he even saw fit to provide design-accurate bottoms of the feet:

By the way, Megamix author/illustrator, Hitoshi Ariga, took notice of these figures and purchased a full set. Needless to say, he was very impressed with the craftsmanship. After all, who wouldn't? They're neato!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

In honor of Mega Man 9's one year anniversary, Capcom is kicking off a special tribute contest where you could win a handful of goods, including one of the very last Mega Man 9 press kits! The details courtesy of Gonzo:

"On this day, a year ago, Mega Man 9 was released on the Wii. Unfortunately, there are no new announcements to be made (sorry, the internet), but there are prizes to be won. Specifically, one of the last Mega Man 9 press kits.

So, what's the catch? Well, we're kicking off a new Mega Man Tribute contest to be judged by a selected panel of Capcom employees. All you have to do is create something to show how passionate you are about Mega Man: baked goods, home-made models, music,videos, art, costumes, etc. Please be sure that it is something new that we haven't seen before OR something that has been improved upon. Your goal should be to warm our cold, jaded hearts on the panel because here at Unity, we've seen tons of fan made Mega Man stuff. If you're not sure if something has been done or not, do a quick search on the site.

15 Runner-Ups will receive codes for Mega Man 9 on your system of choice (as long as we still have the codes in stock).

Monday, September 21, 2009

One year ago tomorrow, Mega Man 9 made its triumphant debut on Nintendo's WiiWare service. Since then, the game has gone on to earn praise from critics and fans around the world, constantly finding itself in numerous "top tens" and taking home several "best digital title" awards.

To celebrate, take some time to reflect on the Mega Man 9 experience. In the end, did you enjoy the game? Were you a fan of the retro/8-bit style? If you could change one thing about MM9, what would it be? etc.

Also, for nostalgia purposes, you might want to check out one of my older posts from '08, "The Shadow Retrospective", which chronicled the events and leaks that led up to MM9's announcement. It's a fun little read; you'll get a kick out of how accurate those leaks turned out!

And, before I forget, Rockman Perfect Memories is celebrating the festivity with a series of live stream events. Site admin, Vixy will be playing through various games in the series several days this week. Check it out at Vixy's channel here.

Well, that's that. Happy one year anniversary, MM9! Hope to see that inevitable sequel sooner than later!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Fans will recall that Mega Man: The Wily Wars (a compilation of the first three MM games for the Genesis/MegaDrive) wasn't released in cartridge form in North America; instead, it was an exclusive playable title on Sega Channel, a now defunct gaming-on-demand service for the Genesis. However, a recently discovered package art indicates that at one point, Capcom might have considered a cartridge version for NA:

A muscular blue bomber with a manly, pissed-off face? Yeah, seems like a legitimate early 90's Mega Man box art to me. But, how can we be sure it's official and not fan-art? (after all, the source of the image is DeviantArt)

Have a look at this GamePro scan from July '94. A cropped version of the package art appears alongside an article for the Wily Wars, which almost sounds as if the game was initially headed to cartridge form as opposed to Sega Channel.

18 years after Mega Man 4's release, someone finally discovered how to successfully avoid Bright Man's "flash stopper" attack, notorious for freezing the player in their tracks while Bright Man unleashes some serious pain. YouTuber, RoahMythril, details how to pull off this marvelous technique below.

"Unfortunately this book will not be published, but we are coming out with a Street Fighter book. I let the person who worked on this book know and she is going to make sure that the information gets taken off the website. Thank you for your concern."

For the most part, the storyline is the same as the original game. The website details some of the earlier scenarios such as Fire Man's invasion and Number Man taking over the school computer.

OSS retains the old "Level" based power-up system.

The Custom window has received an overhaul, borrowing elements that were adapted in EXE2 and onwards such as two row chip selection and the addition of * coded chips.

"Escape" has been assigned to the L button. In the original game, "escape" was a Battle chip.

Battle chips can be traded wirelessly with friends. Local wireless only, no WiFi.

When in the "real-world", the touch screen is used to operate the PET menu.

If it wasn't clear enough before, OSS is definitely an "enhanced port" of Rockman EXE 1. It's not a full blown remake, but a port with some very minor changes/additions and a Shooting Star/Star Force subplot to boot.

On a semi-related note, the OSS website also announced that Mazakasu Eguchi, aka "Mr. Famous", will make a special guest appearance at the Tokyo Game Show next weekend. Special prizes will be available during the event such as an exclusive sticker set.

Provided by Juunasai, here's a high quality scan of the full two-page Operate Shooting Star preview from the other day. There isn't any real new information, but the scans do offer a much better look at the battle system and a few new screenshots of the over-world.

Is it me, or do the battlefield sprites look a bit smoother than they did in the original game? Almost looks as if a filter has been applied...meh, maybe not.

Anyway, for complete details on the two page report, read up on last week's post here.

In the video below, Baxter & AngerFist demonstrate just how similar the later Mega Man NES games are by playing each with the EXACT same controller input. In other words, it depicts how the four games can be played succesfuly using one set of button inputs.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

"Chip Tuned Rockman" consists entirely of newly arranged chip tune-styled songs from the classic series. The 20 individual tracks have been arranged by different artists, each specializing in chip tune mixes. A full track listing and a lone sample track are available here.

The album is also said to include a booklet featuring interviews with the composers and artwork from series artists, Hitoshi Ariga and Shigeto Ikehara.

Chip Tuned Rockman will initially be sold at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, and see a wide release on October 15th, 2009 for 3,000 yen (roughly $33).

The Irregular Hunter + Rockman Rockman PSP value pack is heading out to stores today. Copies will be going in the mail sometime now for those who pre-ordered online via Play Asia or elsewhere. And don't forget, initial shipments are supposedly coming with a bonus 30 track soundtrack! Limited in supply, so once they're out, they're out for good.